Study course

Conceptual Fashion Design

“Fashion can help in finding yourself, in presenting the authentic nature of your internal and external self. Fashion that stands up on its own and is nonetheless in unity and harmony with the body. Fashion that you feel content and secure in, that exists independently of bodily forms. The perfect exterior form is secondary; important is the feeling of oneself in one’s own body. Not reflection on the observation and evaluation of others, but instead personal sensation and enjoyment, and fashion as a medium to achieve this.”*

Reality, fiction, inspiration, authenticity, chance, body… in fashion design, these terms are intertwined, are in dialogue with one another, are in motion, and they determine and explain each other. The most important element in this simultaneous coexistence is the manner of the individual rapprochement with the concept: clearly structured methodical approaches and chance as discovered in experiments will both be included here. A collection is thus not just the result of a concept, but is rather part of a process where consideration of the phenomena identified above is stimulated in many different ways: whether through a “mood board” while working on a form idea for a cut design or through the sit of a material, a passage of text, a film, a piece of music… controlling this process and guiding it towards an end product is more than performance; developing one’s own perspective here and harnessing research, experiment and chance as sources of inspiration are the building blocks for training in professional clothesmaking.

* Approximate translation of excerpt from Franziska Bähring’s thesis

Reality, fiction, inspiration, authenticity, chance, the body ... in fashion design, all these terms are interwoven, are in dialogue, are in motion, condition and explain each other. In this simultaneous coexistence and juxtaposition, the unconventional approach to the concept, which incorporates a clearly structured methodical approach as well as chance discovered through experimentation, is particularly important. The collection is therefore not only the result of a concept, but rather part of a process in which the examination of the above-mentioned phenomena is stimulated in the most diverse ways: whether through a ‘mood board’ on the way from the form idea to the pattern construction, the fall of a fabric, a text passage, a film, a piece of music ... controlling this process and leading it to a result is more than performance; developing one's own view for this, using research, experiment and chance as sources of inspiration are the training building blocks for professional dressmaking.

Selected courses

Course of study

The two-semester master’s course can be taken after an eight-semester bachelor’s course has been completed. The focus here is on a comprehensive master’s thesis on an individual design topic.

The four-semester master’s course offers students conceptual project studies in the first two semesters; a study programme oriented towards individual focal areas can be assembled here from various elective choices. The course of study is completed by a master’s thesis that will visualise a complex concept.

Prerequisites

The master’s courses are aimed at graduates with a bachelor’s or a ‘Diplom’ degree with an artistic/design emphasis. However, interested graduates of other disciplines who have relevant qualifications may also be admitted to a master’s course after taking the course-specific entrance test.

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Workshops for tailoring/dressmaking, knitting and electronic knitting, a course-specific computer pool, workshops for flat-film printing and digital textile printing, a weaving shop with mechanical and electronic Jacquard weaving, cooperations with the local dyeing works, hand-knitting and weaving.

Prerequisites

Master’s courses at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design are aimed at graduates of bachelor’s or ‘Diplom’ courses with an artistic/design emphasis. All applicants have to take a course-specific entrance test; interested graduates of other disciplines who have relevant qualifications may also be admitted to a master’s course after taking this test. Most courses also require proof of relevant practical placements or comparable practical experience along with this test. .

standard period of study

The duration of the master’s course is flexible and depends on the duration of the preceding successfully completed degree:

  • Two semesters: In the case of a preceding completed degree in the same subject after a four-year bachelor’s course with 240 ECTS points or a comparable ‘Diplom’ degree.
  • Four semesters: In the case of a preceding completed degree in the same subject after a three-year bachelor’s course or for graduates of art/design courses in a different subject area or other courses

In the final semester, students work on a master’s thesis on an individual topic.